Gwalior Sugar plans Rs 15,000 cr SEZ in MP

Gwalior Sugar Company Ltd, located 42 km south of Gwalior, a Dabra-based firm, has proposed a special project comprising a special economic zone.

The proposed project will be completed with an investment of Rs 15,000 crore.

The project will be completed in four phases. The first phase will create an aviation facility, the second will have an air-cargo and logistics hub, the third will develop an industrial or agro-processing park while the fourth phase will create a township, medical tourism, a biotech university and leisure destination.

The company has proposed to join hands with a Singapore-based consultant Jurang International, a Singapore airport consortium and Rabo Bank for the development of the agro-processing park.

The project will be a single real estate one, offering employment to 60,000 people, while having a township for 200,000 people.

"The Project Clearance and Implementation Board has given in-principle clearance to the project. This project also involves a foreign direct investment of Rs 6,000 crore," a senior government official in the department of industries told Business Standard.

The company has said it has 3,800 acres for the SEZ and the aviation and cargo hub, 770 acres of urban land for township development, 4,000 acres for high-value agriculture development.

"The company has asked for state government support for 10,000 acres of additional land to complete the project," the official said. However, it will be a tough task for the state government.

The project will take at least five years for completion. The company has sufficient water and power, with a 60-Mw Manikhera dam, to start production soon, and another 17 Mw power has been proposed to be produced from bagasse and agro waste.

If developed, the Dabra aviation facility will have an aviation maintenance centre for India and South East Asia; landing, parking and maintenance facilities for superliners like AB-380 and Boeing 787; parking bays for 90 aircraft; and a training centre for pilots, cabin crew, simulating facility, and flight catering.

The facility, according to the company, will be created by 2009 and the cargo hub would be ready by 2010.

The company may create a joint venture with the state government, Airports Authority of India, banks and financial institutions. Dabra has more than 7,000 sugarcane farmers with a reserved land area of 4,000 acres, effluent treatment facility, certification laboratories and cold storage facilities.

"The firm has also sought state government recommendation for special economic zone," the official said.

Gwalior Agriculture Company Ltd (GACL), a subsidiary of the public firm Gwalior Sugar Company Ltd (GSCL), has 7,800 acres of land in Dabra.

The Project Clearance and Implementation Board has recommended the company's proposal to the Central Board of Approval. A decision on this is awaited. Company officials, however, were not available for comment.